Researchers in Delaware are concerned after damage to their corn fields caused by nasty stink bugs. The damaging insects infested the beautiful crops of the sweet corn in alarming numbers.

The scientists placed mesh bags around the ears of corn and then purposefully infested those bags with different amounts of stink bugs to track the damage in an effort to answer the question, how many does it take to really cause the damage?

They discovered that bugs typically feed during the pollination stage of the corn’s growth. Prior to when the kernels even develop they are damaging the production by damaging the silk in the corn. Stink bugs will feed throughout the corn’s grown pattern, however the most damage is caused because they will prevent all of the kernels producing on the ear.

Scientists plan on using the findings of this experiment to manage the damage and try to reduce or eliminate losses in the future. Those losses could be economic and physical damage, less kernels on the corn equates a lower total pound count of a crop. They also plan to use the research results to determine which pesticides will work best to eliminate the issues caused by stink bugs.